Garden State Trout

fishing the lower main stem of the raritan this morning targeting smallmouth and im fishing a deep fast run near manville and i caught this rainbow. was almost all silver and for a while i couldnt see it even on my 6 weight. thought for sure i had hooked a shad once i saw the silver. fought like hell, i got the slack line off the water and then started peeling drag. never caught a trout this far down on the raritan.

did manage to catch what i was fishing for. this dink was the biggest of the morning lol

ive caught some down by bound brook before, but more by manville. Try that run some more especially after a big ran after fall stocking and you should get some more nice ones.
IDK why but they love swimming down, and it raises the question of just how long those fish have been around for.

Caught an all silver rainbow in Califon a few years back. Fought extremely well also. It was hanging in slow deep water in the spring. Haven't ever seen another one like it. Spotty, but all silver, no hint of red..

wow bound brook. i believe the last stocking area is nevius street in raritan. or maybe the route 206 bridge? i know fish swim and move around or get pushed downstream during floods. but just seems far to me. i could be wrong though.

kype wrote: ↑

Mon May 22, 2023 2:12 pm

wow bound brook. i believe the last stocking area is nevius street in raritan. or maybe the route 206 bridge? i know fish swim and move around or get pushed downstream during floods. but just seems far to me. i could be wrong though.

"seems far to me" good point. The thing with the raritan too is that it's normally big water and it doesnt take much rain to make the whole river completely traversable. when it's low some of the riffles can be skinny thats it. Other than the one dam at the millstone confluence which i guess the fish just sorta slip down.
Another thing too is some fish are stocked in the tributaries below such as Green Brook and Middle Brook, which i think they may prefer to slip down too. Seems like a scary thing for a fish but i guess they are built for that sort of thing.
I really dont know what the fish do, it would be cool to see F&W or some group to investigate some of the movements stocked trout has, it could benefit some of the efficiencies of stocking trout, and make it open to anglers so that even they compliment it. I bet they already know some of this already though, i just dont know the facts myself. At least i know it's a common idea that stocked trout like swimming downstream and often after heavy rains they get carried down probably in search+hopes of calmer water. I can at least prove it in practice catching a good amount of fall-stocky rainbows in manville in the fall not too late after fall stocking periods.

Some club fish like tiger trout which I'd confidently say are only stocked in the upper south/north branches are caught by the main stem too, if that helps confirm some of the weird downstream-swimming activities.

Main stem raritan is wacky!

Ive never caught a rainbow like that. But I have caught trout in the lower section. Most by the fish ladder

Pretty cool fish, looks almost like a lake fish it's so silver.

Drossi wrote: ↑

Mon May 22, 2023 3:53 pm

Pretty cool fish, looks almost like a lake fish it's so silver.

i thought the same. the rainbows i have caught from round valley look like this but those bows are in 60-80 feet of water.

Pretty sweet when the bycatch is the main catch!! We did that on the lower musky yesterday....too many stockies to count with a few fall stocks, aaaand then some nice smallies to 16" , a 15" walleye and a pic from a fellow angler of a ten lb channel cat...as all know the weather was perfect!!! Gr8 report

What you are looking at is a Kamloops club stocked rainbow. That explains the silver and small spots.

I have a buddy that catches tons of trout in the Manville area and he knows the mainstem Raritan better than most. He mostly lands Pequest stockies, however.

Someone mentioned that Fish & Wildlife should do a study of stocked rainbows and they have using PT tags (called "pit" tags) on the Flatbrook. I believe it was a full 80% that moved downstream and did so fairly quickly after being stocked. Most of the rest remained close to their stocking point with only a tiny percentage heading upstream. Remember that stocked fish act much differently than do wild fish.

cool. thanks for the info. i never caught a kamloop so this was my first. great fighting, like i said i thought i had hooked into a shad. so what would be the nearest club that stocks these if i caught this one in manville?

kype wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 4:55 pm

cool. thanks for the info. i never caught a kamloop so this was my first. great fighting, like i said i thought i had hooked into a shad. so what would be the nearest club that stocks these if i caught this one in manville?

Hard to say. Private landowners also stock the rivers and not just clubs. There are many on the two branches of the Raritan, the North and South. Add all the feeders to those two such as Rockaway Creek, the Lamington, etc. and there are far too many private stockings to count.

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 12:16 pm

What you are looking at is a Kamloops club stocked rainbow. That explains the silver and small spots.

I have a buddy that catches tons of trout in the Manville area and he knows the mainstem Raritan better than most. He mostly lands Pequest stockies, however.

Adrew Still

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 5:40 pm

kype wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 4:55 pm

cool. thanks for the info. i never caught a kamloop so this was my first. great fighting, like i said i thought i had hooked into a shad. so what would be the nearest club that stocks these if i caught this one in manville?

Hard to say. Private landowners also stock the rivers and not just clubs. There are many on the two branches of the Raritan, the North and South. Add all the feeders to those two such as Rockaway Creek, the Lamington, etc. and there are far too many private stockings to count.

A fish a stretch in the lower musky has the Kamloop strain that is stocked by the land owner. Very hard fighting bows compared to the pequest strain. NJ stock upstream from him. alot of the nj stocked trout comes down to his bend. I can tell the difference rite away when I have them hooked on what strain of trout it is.

Troutman wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 6:07 pm

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 5:40 pm

kype wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 4:55 pm

cool. thanks for the info. i never caught a kamloop so this was my first. great fighting, like i said i thought i had hooked into a shad. so what would be the nearest club that stocks these if i caught this one in manville?

Hard to say. Private landowners also stock the rivers and not just clubs. There are many on the two branches of the Raritan, the North and South. Add all the feeders to those two such as Rockaway Creek, the Lamington, etc. and there are far too many private stockings to count.

A fish a stretch in the lower musky has the Kamloop strain that is stocked by the land owner. Very hard fighting bows compared to the pequest strain. NJ stock upstream from him. alot of the nj stocked trout comes down to his bend. I can tell the difference rite away when I have them hooked on what strain of trout it is.

thats a few houses upstream from me. never met the guy though and been here 4 years now.

kype wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 6:18 pm

Troutman wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 6:07 pm

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 5:40 pm

Hard to say. Private landowners also stock the rivers and not just clubs. There are many on the two branches of the Raritan, the North and South. Add all the feeders to those two such as Rockaway Creek, the Lamington, etc. and there are far too many private stockings to count.

A fish a stretch in the lower musky has the Kamloop strain that is stocked by the land owner. Very hard fighting bows compared to the pequest strain. NJ stock upstream from him. alot of the nj stocked trout comes down to his bend. I can tell the difference rite away when I have them hooked on what strain of trout it is.

thats a few houses upstream from me. never met the guy though and been here 4 years now.

I fished there yesterday. good guy imo. there was 2 guys that trespassed in. the owner was nice about it. told them it was private property. allowed them to fish that day if they C&R'ed. It was bait guys & they left rite away. they didnt catch anything anyway while I was there. theres a nice run about 4 houses down with a fallen tree log in the water under tree shade. loaded with trout there. still private property thou. but neighbors are cool with me as they've seen me fishing with the the land owner on that stretch

Troutman wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 5:59 pm

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 12:16 pm

What you are looking at is a Kamloops club stocked rainbow. That explains the silver and small spots.

I have a buddy that catches tons of trout in the Manville area and he knows the mainstem Raritan better than most. He mostly lands Pequest stockies, however.

Adrew Still

No, his name is Mark.

Troutman wrote: ↑

Wed May 24, 2023 7:23 am

kype wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 6:18 pm

Troutman wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 6:07 pm

A fish a stretch in the lower musky has the Kamloop strain that is stocked by the land owner. Very hard fighting bows compared to the pequest strain. NJ stock upstream from him. alot of the nj stocked trout comes down to his bend. I can tell the difference rite away when I have them hooked on what strain of trout it is.

thats a few houses upstream from me. never met the guy though and been here 4 years now.

I fished there yesterday. good guy imo. there was 2 guys that trespassed in. the owner was nice about it. told them it was private property. allowed them to fish that day if they C&R'ed. It was bait guys & they left rite away. they didnt catch anything anyway while I was there. theres a nice run about 4 houses down with a fallen tree log in the water under tree shade. loaded with trout there. still private property thou. but neighbors are cool with me as they've seen me fishing with the the land owner on that stretch

Everyone knows where that is. That sign is so ugly and says such bad things IMO. Ironically, it gives the landowner zero protection from trespassing because it is not a "legal sign". A simply "No Trespassing" sign or two would allow the landowner to prosecute for Defiant Trespass if he wished.

Rusty Spinner wrote: ↑

Fri May 26, 2023 10:14 am

Troutman wrote: ↑

Wed May 24, 2023 7:23 am

kype wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2023 6:18 pm

thats a few houses upstream from me. never met the guy though and been here 4 years now.

I fished there yesterday. good guy imo. there was 2 guys that trespassed in. the owner was nice about it. told them it was private property. allowed them to fish that day if they C&R'ed. It was bait guys & they left rite away. they didnt catch anything anyway while I was there. theres a nice run about 4 houses down with a fallen tree log in the water under tree shade. loaded with trout there. still private property thou. but neighbors are cool with me as they've seen me fishing with the the land owner on that stretch

Everyone knows where that is. That sign is so ugly and says such bad things IMO. Ironically, it gives the landowner zero protection from trespassing because it is not a "legal sign". A simply "No Trespassing" sign or two would allow the landowner to prosecute for Defiant Trespass if he wished.

He has other legal signs posted all over his property. Still people just walk rite thru